10 Miles of Hills For Breakfast!

As I mentioned before, I've been really slacking lately on my half marathon training.  Well, October 2 is going to be here before I know it - just over 2 months to go - and I need to get serious.

Part of the reason I've been slacking is it is summer and there are just so many more fun things to do than running in the heat and humidity.  When a 2 mile run is a struggle to push through, you know it is HOT.  Plus, with all of these fun activities comes beer and yummy, but oh so unhealthy food.  Sigh.  It's almost August though and I have 2 big races on the books so it's time to find my mojo and get serious about this.

Side note:  I'm running the Sun Run and Dual Challenge on Sunday, August 7 and the NH 10 Miler on Saturday, August 27.


So when my Moms Run This Town running group had a training run for the NH 10 Miler which is billed as hard and hilly I immediately signed up.  Then I almost immediately regretted it.  In fact, the night before I had to convince myself to go no matter how impossible the task of running 10 miles of hills sounded.  Side note:  I haven't run that far since my half marathon almost 2.5 months ago!

I shocked myself when I actually rolled out of bed at 5:15 am on a SATURDAY to get to the starting line for 6:30 am.  What was I thinking?  I had an irrational fear of being left out on the course by myself, getting lost and then *gasp* having to call my husband, who undoubtedly would still be in bed, to come find me.

Luckily, none of my fears came true.

What is truly wonderful about my running group is that you can easily find a few women who have the same fears and the same pace as you.  About 20 women showed up and I went out with the last group to leave so there were 6 of us.  I put in my headphones and told myself to keep the pace slow to start with, but not so slow that I'd get left behind (irrational fear, remember?)

My first 3 miles were great!  My legs felt fast and strong.  I easily passed a group of 5 women that had started out a few minutes before us.  That was before we hit the hill at mile 4 which was a monster!

I had no delusions of grandeur here.  I told myself if I needed to that I could run/walk up the hill which is exactly what I did.  At this point I lost one of the women in our original group.  I was OK with that since I knew a few other women were behind me so I wasn't going to be the last on the course - irrational fear here, remember?

I made it over that monster slower than I know I can do, but still at a damn good pace for me:  11:16.
At mile 5, I refueled using my sports beans and walked.  The walk break I think really helped me conserve energy for the rest of the hills.

At mile 7, I just started to hurt.  My left heel throbbed with every step (eff you plantar fasciitis)  and my right hip was screaming in pain.  I had lower back pain the previous weekend that I think actually originated in my hips.  While I rubbed my right hip and quad, I made a mental note to visit my chiropractor sooner rather than later.

There were more hills and I continued to use the run/walk method on them.  I kept telling myself to not race my long run.  This was a test.  Get the feel for the course.  I wasn't going to get a prize for going whole hog and possibly injuring myself in the process.

Mile 8 had a good sized downhill that I thought I could make up some time on.  Wrong.  I just hurt.  My upper right leg was screaming.  I've never experienced that on a downhill before.  It hurt worse than the uphill did!

Super excited that I hit a 6 mm pace in the beginning! But holy hills! 

By the time I reached mile 9 and I saw the last hill I let out an audible, "Oh my God!"  It wasn't huge, but I couldn't believe we had another one.  I was so happy to get up and over it because it was smooth sailing from there.  It helped that I knew I'd be seeing my car soon which meant I could go home.

I made it back to the start line at mile 9.5 and realized I had missed a side street that I was supposed to take to make up the last half mile.

I went out for a 10 mile run so I was determined to get 10 miles done.

I ran around the parking lot like a nutcase until my Garmin read 10 miles.

My final time was 1:54.  Not bad.  My PR is 1:47 and it was a virtually flat course.

Overall, I couldn't have been happier with this run.  I was only off my PR by 7 minutes and there were a whole lot more hills.  My legs were happy, I felt like I was fueled right and my lungs and stomach were content.  The best part?  Little to no humidity.

Two more weeks and we go out for another practice run.

I'm excited!

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10 Tips to Surviving the Week Before Your First Half Marathon

So you're running your first half marathon.  Good for you for being only half crazy!  Ideally, you've put in some serious training over the last 3-4 months and you've followed your training plan to a T or modified it so it fits you to a T whichever the case may be.  Below on some last minute tips to help you survive the final week before the big day.

1.  Hydrate!

Aim for a gallon of water a day.  If you're worried about being up all night to use the bathroom then guzzle most of your water in the morning hours.  Add some Nuun Hydration Tablets so you get the electrolytes without the sugar.

2.  Check your gear. 

Make sure everything is in working order.  Ideally, everything you are using come race day has been broken in so there are no surprises.

3.  Pick Your Mantras.

You will be chanting them in your head, or out loud like a crazy person, when the going gets tough.  

4.  Set Your Playlist

The right music can inspire and motivate you right when you need it most.  Some of my favorite running songs are:

• Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
• Can't Stop Me Now - Queen
• I'm Shipping Up to Boston - Dropkick Murphy's 
• Let's Go Crazy - Prince
• Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin
• Welcome to the Jungle - Guns N' Roses
• Stronger - Kanye West
• Work Bitch - Brittany Spears 

5.  Clip Your Toe Nails

This one should be a no brainer.  No one likes bloody socks during a race.  Clip those talons.  

6.  Protein Up!

The week before your big race your nutrition needs to be on point.  Ideally, you've been doing this all along with your training so there are no surprises on the big day that lands you in the long porta-potty lines doing a crazy dance.  Protein is important because it helps build and repair muscles.  Carbs are great for a quick burst of energy, but red meat will deliver the nutrients your body needs to feed those muscles that are deep down inside.  While your at it, add an egg a day, I prefer hard boiled, to clean out your liver.

7.  Rest

This is probably the most important step.  Don't overdue it.  You don't want to risk an injury or deplete yourself this close to reaching your goal.

8.  Make a Mental Plan

Think about how you are going to pace yourself.  Research and plan which water stops you are going to stop at and which ones you might even want to walk through.  For longer races, water stops often include fuel like Honey Stinger Chews.  It's a good idea to know which ones those are so you aren't making any unplanned stops and in the process add valuable seconds to your finish time.  

9.  Stick to Your Plan

This one goes back to #7.  Run when your plan says run, rest when it says rest and cross-train when it says, well you get the idea.  The last week before your race is not the time to start adding in extra runs.  

10.  Pack Your Bags

Dress rehearsal time!  Make sure you've picked out what you are going to wear from your socks to your headphones and that you have some experience using them.  Again, to avoid surprises on race day everything on your body should have been worn before.  

Put everything you are going to need for race day into your bag.  Pack extras!  For women, I suggest packing a few extra hair ties in case they break because who wants to deal with a sweaty mess of hair while you are trying to focus on your form?  After my 10 miler I had packed flip flops and my feet were so thankful especially since we had an hour car drive home.  

If you have any other tips to add, please share them below!  I've found that the best advice comes from other runner's mishaps because  it's the little things, like hair ties, that can make or break a race for you.

Half Marathon Training Recap Week 7: Shamrocks and Jogging Strollers

At the end of my week as a pirate, I had an 8 mile long run scheduled for Saturday.  I had made the decision awhile ago to move it to Sunday to align with the 2 mile Shamrock Shuffle in Manchester, NH that I was registered for.  Somewhere along the line, probably before I started my training plan, I thought it was a good idea to push my 35 pound toddler in her 22 pound jogging stroller (if you did the math right you came up with a total of 57 pounds) during it.  This would mean I would run 6 miles before the race and then 2 miles during it so that I got my 8 mile long run in that weekend.

6 treadmill miles pre-race!  

Brilliant, right?

It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be but it did require a fair bit of planning.  I had to make sure I got up early enough to get 6 miles in before we left and we had to get to the start line early because our 3 year old ran in the kids' Leprechaun Dash beforehand.  We did it and everything went off (nearly) without a hitch.  

And the Leprechaun Dash?  Yeah, that was hell.  It was a mess of 50-75 children under the age of 4 running 100 yards.  Doesn't sound terrible but then you throw in some barricades that kept you from getting to your kids after the race and now you're just doomed.  I won't lie, there was a brief period of time that Scarlett wasn't being watched and was for all intents and purposes "lost."  Luckily, she stayed with her classmate who also ran the race and who's parents were also searching for him so she was safe. Plus, the race organizers wouldn't let any unclaimied kids out of those same barricades that were keeping the frantic parents out.  Whew!

After the Dash we lined up at the way back of the pack that was designated for strollers and walkers.  There was a fair number of us lot of us.   I gave Scarlett a pep talk, really she had the easy part of just sitting there, and then we were off.  Well, after about 2 minutes of shuffling to the start line we were off.

This was the first race I've been in where I didn't wear my headphones.  I hate the thought of listening to myself breathe, but this time was different.  Since I didn't care about a PR (it was a 2 mile race and I was pushing a stroller) I was able to just take in all of the race atmosphere.  I overheard other runners/walkers supporting each other, parents encouraging their children to pace themselves, the cheerleaders cheering for the runners as they went by and even the drum corps that was stationed in the middle of the one and only hill to encourage runners to keep going.  It was great!  I even got to hear Scarlett quip, "Mommy, why you no running?" as I struggled to push nearly 60 extra pounds up said tough hill.  Once we made it back to Elm Street where the race started, we had the extra encouragement of the St. Patrick's Day parade spectators who were already lining the street.  Scarlett was so quiet that I knew she had to be soaking it all in.

At the start of the race, I told my husband, Matt, "I'll see you in 25 minutes!'  Even though I can run a 9 minute mile, I didn't know what I was capable of when pushing a toddler in a stroller.  Lo and behold, I surprised myself by finishing in 21:23!  Even after 6 miles and pushing all that extra weight, I was cutting in front of the regular runners just to keep up the pace that my legs wanted me to go.

Even though fitting in my long run and coordinating it with this little race was an extra headache, I really enjoyed the family atmosphere.  I've already told Scarlett that we're doing it next year, but she's got to run with me!  Maybe I'll even get Matt to join us too.  

Half Marathon Training Week 3 Recap!

Week 3 has come and gone and I happily stuck with the plan even though I had to make some modifications.

Day 1 - Monday

Today I had to complete Circuit Run 2 and Super Short Strength Circuit 2.  If you remember from Week 1, I surprised myself by LOVING the circuit run.  It broke up the monotony of a regular run.  For this circuit run I had to warm up for 10 minutes at an easy pace.  Then stop and do one exercise for 1 minute before jumping back on the treadmill for 5 minutes.  I had to repeat this pattern until all 4 exercises were done.  Those exercises were:  Push-ups, walking lunges, jump rope and plank.  It was a great workout and I got 2 miles in.

Day 2 - Tuesday

The plan called for an EASY 6 mile run, but I didn't sleep well the night before so there was no way I was getting up early to get it in.  I decided to swap it out with Wednesday's Rest plus SSSC 2 instead.  

6 miles at 4 am?  No problem.

Day 3- Wednesday

Since I swapped days, today was the day that I had to plan on that EASY 6 mile run.  Since when did 6 miles become easy?  So, like any crazy person I set my alarm for 4 am and actually GOT UP!  What is even crazier is I got it done and still got to work on time.  I kept my pace between a 10-11mm.  I had to stop often to do quite a bit of stretching of my calves, arms and lower back and it actually wasn't until mile 4 or so that I started to feel like I was in the groove.

Day 4 - Thursday

Sigh, I wasn't looking forward to today's schedule of hill repeats mostly because it is too dark for me to run before or after work and my husband told me to NEVER EVER use the incline on my ancient treadmill.  Today I needed to improvise.  After warming up for 10 minutes on the treadmill, I worked in my hill repeats by climbing the stairs in my home for 15 minutes.  Talk about boring.  But I had to get it done and I really need work on maintaining my pace on hills.  Never was I so glad to hear an alarm go off before!  After my 15 minutes of stairs, I headed back downstairs to the treadmill to cool down for 10 minutes.

Day 5 - Friday

Yay for cross-training day!  Since it had been awhile I decided to do a morning yoga video for my cross-training.  If you haven't checked out Yoga with Adrienne on Youtube you really should.  They are really well made videos with lots of different levels.  I was so happy to only have to set my alarm for 15 minutes earlier today to get up and get it done (Yay for 5:15 instead of 4am).  The stretch felt good and I set my intention for the day to stay away from veggie chips and sticks since I don't need the extra carbs, but I've been addicted lately to them both.

I also had to do SSSC 2 again which I fit in later in the day.  I was so happy to enjoy a glass of wine (or 2) after work.

Day 6 - Saturday 

Hello, long run day!  8 miles you say?  Sounds good although 7 was my longest and now I had to push it 1 mile longer.  I took this outside in the beautiful 50 degree, sunny New Hampshire weather.  I way overdressed:  Fleece running tights, long sleeved shirt with fleece jacket and a fleece headband.  The "what to wear" guide for running in the temperature it was even suggested mittens!  No way.  I ended up going home after mile 1.5 to ditch the fleece jacket and headband.  I almost went home later on to change into a short-sleeved shirt, but I toughed it out.  At mile 4 I stopped for water at home and at mile 6 I ate raisins so I slowed down considerably.

8 miles, done and done.

Overall, I'm happy with my pace and the fact that I was able to do it.  I kept my pace consistent and I figure I'll be running my half marathon at an 11mm although I'd like a 10 mm pace.  My calves were tight and it took until the end for them to really feel good.

I did come home to ice my ankles because I felt some tendinitis coming on.  My knees hurt pretty bad too and I don't know if it was runner's knee or my arthritis flaring up.

How thankful am I though that next Saturday's long run is "only" 7 miles?

And yes, I did maintain my pace up a bunch of hills on the neighborhood course I created for myself so all those stairs earlier in the week worked out great for me.